NAG Library Function Document
nag_tabulate_percentile (g11bbc)
 
1
 Purpose
nag_tabulate_percentile (g11bbc) computes a table from a set of classification factors using a given percentile or quantile, for example the median.
 
2
 Specification
| 
| #include <nag.h> |  
| #include <nagg11.h> |  
| void | nag_tabulate_percentile (Nag_TabulateVar type,
Integer n,
Integer nfac,
const Integer sf[],
const Integer lfac[],
const Integer factor[],
Integer tdf,
double percnt,
const double y[],
const double wt[],
double table[],
Integer maxt,
Integer *ncells,
Integer *ndim,
Integer idim[],
Integer count[],
NagError *fail) |  | 
 
3
 Description
A dataset may include both classification variables and general variables.  The classification variables, known as factors, take a small number of values known as levels.  For example, the factor sex would have the levels male and female.  These can be coded as 1 and 2 respectively.  Given several factors, a multi-way table can be constructed such that each cell of the table represents one level from each factor.  For example, the two factors sex and habitat, habitat having three levels: inner-city, suburban and rural, define the 2 by 3 contingency table:
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
    | Sex | Habitat | 
    |  | Inner-city | Suburban | Rural | 
    | Male |  |  |  | 
    | Female |  |  |  | 
  
 
 
For each cell statistics can be computed.  If a third variable in the dataset was age then for each cell the median age could be computed:
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
    | Sex | Habitat | 
    |  | Inner-city | Suburban | Rural | 
    | Male | 24 | 31 | 37 | 
    | Female | 21.5 | 28.5 | 33 | 
  
 
 
That is the median age for all observations for males living in rural areas is 37.  The median being the 50% quantile.  Other quantiles can also be computed: the  percent quantile or percentile, , is the estimate of the value such that  percent of observations are less than .  This is calculated in two different ways depending on whether the tabulated variable is continuous or discrete.  Let there be  values in a cell and let ,  be the values for that cell sorted into ascending order.  Also, associated with each value there is a weight, , , which could represent the observed frequency for that value, with  and .  For the  percentile let  and  then the percentiles for the two cases are as given below.
If the variable is discrete, that is takes only a limited number of (usually integer) values then the percentile is defined as:
If the data is continuous then the quantiles are estimated by linear interpolation.
where 
.
 
4
 References
John J A and Quenouille M H (1977)  Experiments: Design and Analysis Griffin 
Kendall M G and Stuart A (1969)  The Advanced Theory of Statistics (Volume 1) (3rd Edition) Griffin 
 
5
 Arguments
- 1:
  
      – Nag_TabulateVarInput
- 
On entry: indicates whether the variable to be tabulated is discrete or continuous.
 
- The percentiles are computed for a discrete variable.
- The percentiles are computed for a continuous variable using linear interpolation.
 
 Constraint:
   or .
 
- 2:
  
      – IntegerInput
- 
On entry: the number of observations. Constraint:
  .
 
- 3:
  
      – IntegerInput
- 
On entry: the number of classifying factors in  factor. 
 Constraint:
  .
 
- 4:
  
      – const IntegerInput
- 
On entry: indicates which factors in  factor are to be used in the tabulation.
 If   the  th factor in  factor is included in the tabulation. 
Note that if , for  then the statistic for the whole sample is calculated and returned in a 1 by 1 table. 
 
- 5:
  
      – const IntegerInput
- 
On entry: the number of levels of the classifying factors in  factor. 
 Constraint:
  
 if , , for .
 
- 6:
  
      – const IntegerInput
- 
On entry: the  nfac coded classification factors for the  n observations. 
 Constraint:
  
if , , for  and .
 
- 7:
  
      – IntegerInput
- 
On entry: the stride separating matrix column elements in  the array  factor. 
 Constraint:
  . 
- 8:
  
      – doubleInput
- 
On entry: the percentile to be tabulated, . Constraint:
  .
 
- 9:
  
      – const doubleInput
- 
On entry: the variable to be tabulated. 
- 10:
  
    – const doubleInput
- 
On entry:  wt must contain the  n weights.  Otherwise  wt must be set to  NULL. 
 Constraint:
  , for .
 
- 11:
  
    – doubleOutput
- 
On exit: the computed table.  The  ncells cells of the table are stored so that for any two factors the index relating to the factor occurring later in  lfac and  factor changes faster.  For further details see  Section 9. 
 
- 12:
  
    – IntegerInput
- 
On entry: the maximum size of the table to be computed. Constraint:
   product of the levels of the factors included in the tabulation.
 
- 13:
  
    – Integer *Output
- 
On exit: the number of cells in the table. 
- 14:
  
    – Integer *Output
- 
On exit: the number of factors defining the table. 
- 15:
  
    – IntegerOutput
- 
On exit: the first  ndim elements contain the number of levels for the factors defining the table. 
 
- 16:
  
    – IntegerOutput
- 
On exit: a table containing the number of observations contributing to each cell of the table, stored identically to  table. 
 
- 17:
  
    – NagError *Input/Output
- 
The NAG error argument (see  Section 3.7 in How to Use the NAG Library and its Documentation). 
 
6
 Error Indicators and Warnings
- NE_2_INT_ARG_LT
- 
On entry,  while .  These arguments must satisfy .
 
- NE_2_INT_ARRAY_CONS
- 
On entry,  while .
 Constraint: if , , for .
 
- NE_2D_1D_INT_ARRAYS_CONS
- 
On entry,  while .
 Constraint: , for  and .
 
- NE_2D_INT_ARRAY_CONS
- 
On entry, .
 Constraint: , for  and .
 
- NE_ALLOC_FAIL
- 
Dynamic memory allocation failed.
 
- NE_BAD_PARAM
- 
On entry, argument  type had an illegal value.
 
- NE_CELL_EMPTY
- 
At least one cell is empty.
 
- NE_INT_ARG_LT
- 
On entry, .
 Constraint: .
 On entry, .
 Constraint: .
 
- NE_INTERNAL_ERROR
- 
An internal error has occurred in this function. Check the function call and any array sizes. If the call is correct then please contact  NAG for assistance.
 
- NE_MAXT
- 
The maximum size of the table to be computed,  maxt is too small.
 
- NE_REAL
- 
On entry, .
 Constraint: .
 
- NE_REAL_ARRAY_CONS
- 
On entry, .
 Constraint: , for .
 
 
7
 Accuracy
Not applicable.
 
8
 Parallelism and Performance
nag_tabulate_percentile (g11bbc) is not threaded in any implementation.
The tables created by 
nag_tabulate_percentile (g11bbc) and stored in 
table and 
count are stored in the following way.  Let there be 
 factors defining the table with factor 
 having 
 levels, then the cell defined by the levels 
 of the factors is stored in 
th cell given by:
where 
, for 
 and 
.
 
10
 Example
The data, given by 
John and Quenouille (1977), are for a 3 by 6 factorial experiment in 3 blocks of 18 units.  The data is input in the order: blocks, factor with 3 levels, factor with 6 levels, yield, and the 3 by 6 table of treatment medians for yield over blocks is computed and printed.
 
10.1
 Program Text
Program Text (g11bbce.c)
 
10.2
 Program Data
Program Data (g11bbce.d)
 
10.3
 Program Results
Program Results (g11bbce.r)